JULY: This Month in Black History

July 21: This Day in Black History

1896: The National Federation of Afro-American Women was founded on this day.

1917: Floyd Jones was born. He was a blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. He passed away in 1989 at age 72.

1952: George Wallace was born. He is an actor and comedian. He turns 61 today.

1955: The Cadets charted with ‘Stranded in the Jungle’ their rock ‘n’ roll novelty.

1957: Althea Gibson became the first black to win a major US tennis tournament on this day.

1958: ‘Yakety Yak’ by the Coasters was the Number One song on this day.

1958: The Dell-Vikings’ cover of “You Cheated” was released, along with the Miracles’ “Money” and the Videos’ classic “Trickle, Trickle.”

1961: The Supremes’ second single, “Buttered Popcorn,” was released, with Florence Ballard singing lead. The group was still more than a year from its first chart 45, “Your Heart Belongs to Me.”

1962: 160 civil right activists were jailed after a demonstration in Albany, Ga.

1962: John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” reached #60 pop (#16 R&B), becoming his only 45 in the pop Top 100. It was also his last of nine R&B hits starting in 1949.

1979: The National Women’s Hall of Fame was dedicated in Seneca Falls, NY on this day. Some of the inductees are Marian Anderson, Barbara Jordan, Ella Fitzgerald, Bessie Coleman, Mary McLeod Bethune, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth just to name a few.

1990: En Vogue reached #2 pop with “Hold On,” their debut disc. Former Commodores member Thomas McElroy and partner Denzil Foster, who wanted to invent a funky, contemporary version of the Supremes, put the female quartet together.

2008: Khia Edgerton passed away. She was a disk jockey at Baltimore’s Radio One hip-hop station 92Q James (WERQ-FM) who worked under the name Club Queen K-Swift. Edgerton had established quite a following and was the first female deejay at the station. She was found unresponsive in the pool at her home in an apparent accidental drowning and was pronounced dead at a hospital. She was 29 years old.

2008: Barbara Ann Teer passed away. She was an actress, founder, and longtime chief executive of the performing arts organization National Black Theater. She appeared in several productions. She was 71 years old.